Snelling Road Race

Just for fun I thought I’d do the Pro/1/2 race at Snelling this year. It was going to be way too cold for the 8am Master’s 35+ race and getting into early season 45+ races is like getting Springsteen or Stone’s tickets and that race was long sold out. Besides, it’s fun to race with the Pro’s and it’s also great training. The sleeping in angle was not to be ignored either…

I love this race, especially when it is windy. It brings me back to my formative years of fighting in the cross winds at the Sacramento South River Ride. (In it’s hey day, one of the greatest group rides anywhere.) I love that stuff! It was still cold for our 12:15 VPST (Velo Promo Standard Time) start, but much warmer than in the morning.

David, Andrew and I spoke briefly before the race. We made two decisions. One, David would be our guy to finish it off in a sprint. If he was around we would work for him. Two, if I got up the road, the plan was, don’t chase, but also don’t block. Let the other teams bring it back together and we could set up David for the sprint. And finally, with 14 riders pre entered, no break was going to stick if it didn’t have at least a couple of Giant Strawberry riders.

The first lap was nervous. It was a little windy so we spent some time groveling in the gutter, dodging puddles and everybody and their brother wanted to get up front. Half way through the second lap, just past the Merco RR finish a group got away. It had been aggressive and guys were a bit tired and looking at each other. I followed a few wheels to get to a good position and was able to jump across alone. Two more riders came up shortly afterwards and we were off to the races.

There were about 12 riders in the group. Eric Wohlberg (Form Fitness), Andy Goessling (Clif Bar), John Bennett and Jesse Moore (CalGiant), David Albrecht (Chico Corsa), Joe Innarelli (Yahoo), Hendrick Pohl (Webcor), Sam Basseti (Firefighters), and a rider each from Garmin-Cervelo, Divine Electric and HDR Lombardi. We had good horsepower and the required 2 Cal Giant riders, and that was the last we saw of the main field. It was a pleasant surprise to see that the group worked well together the whole rest of the race. Usually breaks that big don’t cooperate so well.

Nothing of note happened until the fifth lap. After the “big hill” towards the end of the fifth lap you could tell that there were some tired legs. A couple of guys took digs on the next rollers and when we paused it seemed like a good time to go and make something happen. I attacked and got a nice gap. Partly because it was a good time to go and probably at least partly because not many of them knew about me and figured that I was not a danger. Which is at least partly true. Even my ego isn’t big enough to think I was going to solo the last lap and change and hold off THAT group. But I did hope that it would cause a reaction and perhaps three or four guys would bridge up to me. Alas, that was not to be. I got just enough gap to tempt me into thinking “just maybe”. Maybe they’ll start looking at each other…

The reality was that I spent the next five miles beating what little I had left out of my legs and I was caught just before the feed hill. Thankfully nobody attacked when they caught me and I made the feed hill without much trouble. The drag up to the Merco finish was something else though. I made it, but just. The final “big hill” was a concern for me. We did hit it very hard, but I made it over the top in pretty good position. Yeah for me! But it cost me. The next roller was a bridge to far and I could not follow the next surge. I chased the rest of the way in with Albrecht, Innarelli and another guy, but we never got very close. I felt like Randy in “A Christmas Story”, “You guys! Wait up! Wait up!” I think that there were still two t-shirts on the line, but I totally blew the sprint, going way too early and I think two of the three guys with me came around. Final place, maybe 11th or 12th, but I’m not positive. John Bennett of Cal Giant won.

I have mixed feelings about the end result. Part of me was happy to be on the pointy end of a pretty good pro/1/2 field and at least trying to go for the win. But part of me wishes I would have cooled my jets and waited for the fireworks at the end of the last lap. I wasn’t going to win that sprint by any means, but a mid top 10 was probably possible if I played it right.

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